A new broadcast monitoring report in South Africa says the country’s radio audience grew significantly over the past year.

Report by the media monitoring company Novus Group says South Africa’s national radio station, Radio 2000 experience an increase of more than 1million listeners, between May 1, 2021, and May 1, 2022.

Heart 104.9FM experienced a 901% audience increase while Radio 2000 saw a 150% increase in audience figures with 1,126 million new listeners tuning in.

Similarly, Metro FM (21%) and Motsweding FM (20%) also experienced significant gains.

Unfortunately, Kasie FM (47%) and Eden FM (46%) had massive drops in listener figures. Other stations experiencing notable drops include Umhlobo Wenene FM (22%) and Jozi FM (21%).

“The past year has certainly been a mixed bag for South African broadcast media,” says Novus Group director, Joe Hamman.

Hamman said there has definitely been more of a focus on local content with audiences preferring this to international news.

“However, some of the significant growth we have seen across several community stations were offset by losses in other community stations reflecting a potential preference for more mainstream radio content,” he said.